Adoptive parents have been emailing the US Embassy in Kyiv asking for more information... They have been asking

• When is my appointment?


• Can I adopt a child in 2007?



• Will Ukrainian adoption be shutdown again next year because about 10% of American families haven't filed their post adoptoin reports?



• Can single parents adopt, I hear they won't be allowed?

The US Embassy decided to send out a general reply

Notice to American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine - August 21, 2006

Dear Members of the American Adoption Community Interested in Ukraine:

With this public notice, we would like to provide updated information about Ukraine’s intercountry adoption program and address some rumors that are circulating in the U.S. adoption community.

We have been receiving a number of emails from prospective adoptive parents, asking whether the adoption appointments have been scheduled yet. Several adoptive parents have asked about the most recent adoption rumor, according to which no appointments will be scheduled until the problem of the missing post-placement reports (PPRs) has been resolved.

In fact, the Ukrainian State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child (SDAPRC), which earlier this summer assumed responsibility for intercountry adoption matters within the Ukrainian government, has already completed its schedule of adoption appointments for September 2006. There are 25 American families on this list. This list is posted in the public area of the SDAPRC. It contains only the registration numbers (without any names) within the range 14000 to 15000 series. The invitation letters have already been mailed to the prospective adoptive parents. If you have registration numbers in the specified range and have not received an invitation, please contact the Adoption Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, which will confirm with the SDAPRC whether your number is indeed scheduled for September. Adoptive parents who have the registration numbers outside this range will be scheduled for the coming months. The schedule of adoption appointments for October is not yet completed.

The high rate of non-compliance with the Ukrainian PPR requirements remains the most serious argument against resumption of acceptance of new adoption dossiers from non-Ukrainian citizens. We urge all American parents of Ukrainian adopted children to submit their annual reports to the appropriate Embassy or Consulate General of Ukraine on time. Parents who are delinquent in submitting prior reports should submit those as well as current and future reports. Please realize that adoptive parents’ failure to do this endangers the future of the Ukraine-U.S. intercountry adoption program and thus prevents many Ukrainian children in need from finding loving parents.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Adoption Unit/Immigrant Visa Section

Consular Section
American Embassy
Kyiv, Ukraine

Tel: 38-044-4904422
Fax: 38-044-490-4570

adoptionskiev@state.gov
http://kiev.usembassy.gov/amcit_adoptions_eng.html

In accordance with E.O. 12958 this message is not classified.

So now we know that 25 Americans have appointments in September. This sounds a little strange. There are 390 Americans with approved dossiers who can get appointments for September, October, November and December.

390 / 4 = 97.5 appointments for month

Then I had a thought.......I also saw this posted on an email list, so I wasn't the first or last person to have this thought.

The SDA is giving appointments in chronological order. People with September appointments registered their dossiers Feb to July 2005. Some of these people must have moved onto other adoption choices. Waiting over a year for an appointment is a long time. These poor folks got caught by the slow down in 2005, the shutdown in 2005 and the shutdown in 2006.

The US Embassy letter didn't address the single parent question.... But something has changed under the new Ukrainian adoption authority.

Single men and women can adopt from Ukraine (not new). Married and singles are getting appointments based on when their dossier was registered. (new) Before single folks were always bumped to the bottom of the list.